After channel surfing my way to a standup comedy special, I half-listened to the crude comedian. Though sleep was waiting to claim me, I couldn’t stop thinking about what Maxwell had said to Arys. I wanted answers.
I searched my memory, fighting to break through the barrier that kept Arys’ several lifetimes of memories locked away from my conscious mind. I should have been grateful for that barrier; it kept me from being overwhelmed by Arys’ past. It kept me sane. But, there had to be a way to break through, to pinpoint the one memory that would reveal to me what Maxwell meant. Besides, occupying myself with Arys kept me from obsessing over Shaz.
Settling myself comfortably amid the pillows and comforter, I let the haze of slumber creep in. My angle was to fall into that lucid semi-conscious state between awake and asleep. I knew I was slipping, and true sleep would claim me any moment. Fighting it, I focused on Arys, letting my mind wander over some of the memories of his that I had already seen clearly.
Most of them made little sense to me. They often came in random bursts of visions and feelings. When we’d first bonded our power, his memories haunted my dreams often. Now they were repressed, hidden away inside my mind where I generally preferred them to stay.
I drifted in and out of Arys’ past, seeking Maxwell. It was there; I knew it was. I just had to tap into it. I kept Maxwell at the front of my thoughts, hoping it would pull him out of the dredges of my mind.
‘What, pray tell, are you doing, my wolf?’ Arys’ voice boomed through my head, scaring me out of the hazy lull I’d fallen into.
Jerking upright in bed, I swallowed hard and gasped for breath as my heart pounded. ‘Nothing. Just trying to fall asleep.’
‘Fall asleep? Or dig through my memories for answers I’m not ready to give you?’
Tapping Arys’ thoughts was not part of the plan. I kicked myself, glad he couldn’t see me. I knew he’d be giving me the look, the what-the-hell-are-you-thinking look.
‘You weren’t supposed to know.’ Sometimes, censoring myself was for the best, but this wasn’t one of them.
‘I gathered.’ Even telepathically his cynical tone came across just fine. ‘Go to sleep, Alexa. You’ll know when I’m ready for you to know.’
That chauvinist attitude ticked me off, and I let him feel my anger. It was just like him to boss me around because he wasn’t in control of a situation. ‘Don’t tell me what to do, Arys. You’ll have a fight on your hands.’
His low, velvet smooth chuckle floated through my mind to touch me intimately. ‘Do what you will then, you feisty little pain in the ass.’
He was gone, closing the door between us with a force I felt. He didn’t think I could do it. If Arys believed I could sift through his memories like rifling through a file folder, there’s no way he would have laughed it off. Cocky vampire.
Sleep came and with it the deep dreamless slumber that often accompanied extreme fatigue. If I was going to get the information I felt entitled to, it wasn’t going to be easy.
Waking just past sunset, I felt momentarily disoriented. As much as I would have loved to stay in bed, I had things to do. Once Maxwell and Claire were dealt with, I was having a movies in bed weekend come hell or high water.
Rather than attempt a last-minute wolf pack meeting, I decided to call select members one by one. The town pack was small and for the most part, tightly knit. However, a few pack members had a family, children from before the change. I wouldn’t call them. I wouldn’t risk anyone’s mother or father.
I didn’t want to ask Kylarai because I knew she’d say yes. Endangering her was not what I wanted. Yet, she was my beta wolf, and she would be insulted if I didn’t call her first. While I peered into the bathroom mirror and applied smoky black eyeliner, she returned my call.
“Julian wants to come,” she informed me as soon as I picked up. “I think you should let him. Zak’s coming, too. How many do you want to bring? That will make five altogether, us included.”
I leaned in close to the mirror to double-check the liner framing my brown eyes. “Four. I don’t plan on shifting. Four should be plenty. I don’t want to drag too many innocent pack members into this either. Julian has dues to pay. I’ll gladly let him put his life on the line. I guess Zak’s a big boy. But, are you sure you want to come, Ky? Don’t feel obligated.”
“Of course I feel obligated. We’re pack. You know I’ve got your back if you need me. I want to back you up, Alexa.” She paused, and I heard papers rustling in the background. “Besides, I could use a little excitement.”
Kylarai had been itching to break away from the same old routine for a while now. I couldn’t blame her in the least. It was hard enough to see how my world had affected Shaz. I wasn’t letting it happen to Ky, too.
“Excitement that could get you killed isn’t necessarily the best way to break away from the everyday.” I recalled the utter horror and disgust on Kylarai’s face when we were in The Kiss.